The Jews of Kerala

The 2,000 Year Old Story of Jews in India?

Nestled on the backwaters of the Arabian Sea, in India’s southwestern state of Kerala, lies Jew Town in the city of Cochin. Home to an ancient port city along the Malabar Coast, Kerala was an important stop on the ancient Spice Route – connecting the West and the East. A world leader in the production of spices, particularly black pepper, it saw numerous Jewish migrations over the centuries and became a place where Jews found tolerance and acceptance among their Hindu neighbours. In stark contrast to their brothers and sisters living in Christendom and Dar Al-Islam, the Jews of India were allowed to live in peace, free to practise their religion.?

Throughout the centuries the Jews of Malabar were visited by rabbis and scholars, as well as those seeking asylum from persecution in other lands. These waves of immigrants provided the Malabari Jews not only with greater numbers, but also with holy books and information on Jewish matters from around the world. The independence of the Jews of that region was so rare, one historian commented, “While there have been other Jewish autonomous zones in the postexilic period, the nearly millennium-long independent principality that existed on the Malabar Coast, where the Jews were ruled by a succession of Jewish chieftains, is a unique and extraordinary occurrence in the Diasporic experience.”[1]

One traveller who observed this first hand was the 14th century rabbi, Rabbeinu Nissim of Girona, who described his experiences while visiting the city of Anjuvannam (known by the Jews as Shingly) on the Malabar Coast in a poem[2]:?

I travelled from Spain

I had heard of the city of Shingly

I longed to see a King of Israel

I saw him with my own eyes

On a recent trip to India with Aish Young Professionals, I too saw with my own eyes the fantastic history of Jewish communities, with their handful-of-Jews who remained in a land that provided their people with a place of tolerance for so long. As I got off the plane in Kerala, I sensed a more relaxed atmosphere than that of Mumbai, a bustling nonstop city filled with more people than it can accommodate. The hot and sticky midnight-air didn’t deter the locals from going about their business as every passer-by asked to help with our luggage in exchange for a few Rupees. I couldn’t help but imagine what a Jewish-Indian city looked like centuries ago, before the internet enabled us to so easily search and find what we are looking for, and before the interconnectedness of humanity was so apparent.??

The first Jewish inhabitants of Kerala are believed to have been sailors who set sail over 2,500 years ago on the ships of King Solomon in search of gold, ivory, teak, sandalwood, silk, pearls, monkeys, parrots, exotic peacocks, and of course, ambrosial Indian spices[3]. There are differing opinions among scholars as to the date of arrival of the Jews in India. Some have suggested the close resemblance of the Tamil words for ape and peacock and their Hebrew equivalents supports the view dating to the time of King Solomon. Another theory is that the Jews of Kerala were descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes who had been taken into captivity by King Shalmaneser of Assyria, eventually escaping and making their way to India. Others suggest the Jews of India are offspring from the Jews taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Others, still, say the first colonisation of Jews in Cranganore, on the Malabar Coast, was a result of the exodus of Jews from Persia in the fifth century during the reign of King Kobad. The tradition of the Cochin Jews, however, maintains that soon after the destruction of the Second Temple in the first century, ten thousand Jews were graciously received by the then Hindu Ruler and were allowed to settle in different parts of the country of which the majority made their home in Cranganore[4].

Today, the Malabari Jews have dwindled in numbers and 20-30 remain, mostly in Ernakulam, Kochi. Walking through the famous Broadway Market is like a dream for the senses. Clothing stalls featuring every colour of the rainbow, the sounds of motorcycle horns beeping as they swerve in and out of oncoming pedestrians oblivious to the hazards surrounding them, and the cacophony of smells, a mix of chickpeas, onions, potatoes, chutney, masala, and of course, the spices. Tucked away unassumingly in the bazaar is a shop called Cochin Blossoms: Aquarium Fish, Plants and Accessories. Passers-by would not be remiss if they were to overlook the small print underneath Kadavumbagam Synagogue: the oldest active synagogue in the Commonwealth, since 1200 CE. Walking in through the alleyway and into the shop tending to all your aquatic needs, you would not expect to find what lies beyond the backdoor of the shop. The synagogue, replete with golden bima, colourful hanging lanterns, and walls covered with golden fabric, was immaculate.

One person who exemplifies what the Jews of Cochin represent is Elias Josephai, warmly known as ‘Babu’ who leads the community both in his spectacular restoration of the Kadavumbagam synagogue of Ernakulam and in caring for any Jewish matters whenever they may arise. When speaking to our group of young professionals on Friday night, as we led the services to make a rare minyan, he told us, “I cry in my heart every Shabbat and Yom Tov when the synagogue is left empty of prayer.” Another man present commented to me that Elias goes to the synagogue every Shabbat and prays alone in its empty chambers. He has also done important work in documenting the history of the Malabari Jews; many of the recorded histories of the Jews in India are conflicting in their narratives.??

There exists another distinct community of Jews in Cochin: the Paradesi[5] Jews who had come from Spain, likely after the Spanish Expulsion of 1492 or soon after. Their community was an amalgam of Jews from Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Syria, and Iraq. These Jews, also known as the ‘White Jews’ due to their fairer complexion, built the famous Paradesi Synagogue of Jew Town in Cochin in 1568. Tucked away at the top of Synagogue Lane, this beautiful structure shares a wall with the Mattancherry Palace of the Raja of Cochin. The proximity of the local ruler to the Jewish sanctuary is no coincidence. The Jewish community’s tradition is that the town of Mattancherry was a gift to them from the Raja, hence the name, derived from the Hebrew ‘matana’ (gift) and the Malayalam ‘cheri’ (land). Attached to the synagogue is a clock tower with four faces. The clock tower does more than simply tell the time; it is a symbol of how the Jews of Cochin were integrated within their surroundings, attested by the fact one face is inscribed in Hebrew, another in Malayalam, and a third in English.?

A sign of their continued integration was felt when then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi delivered a powerful speech celebrating 400 years of the community on 15 December 1968. She said, “Secularism in India does not mean animosity towards religion. It implies equal respect for all religions…It is a matter of pride for us in India that all the great religions in the world are respected in our country. I offer my good wishes and say ‘Mazal Tov’ (good luck) to all our Jewish citizens on the occasion of this quatercentenary celebration of the Cochin Synagogue.” The synagogue was raised to national recognition when the government honoured the community by issuing a commemorative stamp featuring an image of the inside of the synagogue.??

Today, Synagogue Lane has become a tourist attraction of Kerala, filled with shops bearing Stars of David and Hebrew inscriptions greeting people with the word ‘Shalom’. Halfway down the street one can find the shop of Sarah Cohen, dubbed by many as ‘The Last Jew of Cochin’. Sarah was a lively lady who loved to speak to any and everyone who strolled past her embroidery shop. She would tell them stories about the community and sing songs from the Cochin prayer books. Her beautifully handcrafted challah covers and kippot are legendary, and many came to meet her and purchase her wares. Today, the shop continues to be run by her close aide Thaha Ibrahim and his wife Jasmine. As Muslims, one may have thought this to be an unlikely friendship, but Sarah Cohen saw past any differences and Thaha became like a son to her. When I stepped into the shop I was greeted with a big smile and when I showed interest in the life of Sarah Cohen, Thaha’s eyes widened and began to pull out old newspaper clippings of them together; he then showed me into the back room where I found the simple bed and candlesticks she would use.?

For our group of professionals from the UK, this was an amazing journey together. Aside from the colourful and bustling markets in Jaipur and the iconic visit to the Taj Mahal, we came and went with a sense of purpose. To learn about the heritage of an ancient community almost-forgotten, to visit many of the synagogues which exist mostly as heritage sites, and to be able to bring some of that Jewish spark back to life in those places, was truly unforgettable.?

[1] Jewish Communities in Exotic Places, Blady, p230

[2] This poem, titled ‘Nomar Shira’ (Let us sing a song) is recorded in Cochin song books and chanted by the community on the second day of the festival of Shavuot, Who Are the Jews of India? Katz.?

[3] On Heart, Two Worlds: The Story of the Jews of Kochi, Prof Dr KS Mathew?

[4] Kerala and Her Jews, S S Koder.?

[5] Paradesi means ‘foreigners’ in Malayalam, the language of Kerala.?